An auction of pieces of art from the corridors and offices of the bailed-out Anglo Irish Bank has raised nearly 300,000 euros.

More than 200 bidders competed for the rogue lender's corporate art collection - 93% of which was sold.

The art from the bank, which was renamed the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), went under the hammer on the orders of its liquidator KPMG.

Auction house Adam's in Dublin described the event as an "outstanding success" as it raised 281,000 euros - well over the 200,000-euro mark that was expected.

Among the 134 lots up for auction were a number of oil paintings by some of Ireland's best-known contemporary artists, including Louis le Brocquy, Martin Gale, Felim Egan and Stephen McKenna.

Watercolours, prints, sculptures, photographs and street scenes were also among the lots, valued from 50 euros up to 12,000 euros.

The highest price paid was 17,000 euros for McKenna's Basket And Vessels.

Six paintings by Paulin Bewick, depicting Irish wildlife, made a combined total of 44,900 euros.

Sean Scully's etchings all sold well over their estimate with his Raval No 1 fetching 6,600 euros.

In a statement, Adam's said the auction, which included phone and internet bids, had been good-natured.

"We are delighted with the result and it once again proves the point that collections with interesting provenance are very much sought after by Irish collectors," it said.

The IBRC was placed into liquidation by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan in February.

The proceeds of the auction will now go to the special liquidators.

Highlights of the art included a collection of canvases by Dublin artist Egan, six wildlife watercolours by Bewick, works by McKenna, the former president of the Royal Hibernian Academy, and le Brocquy's watercolour from 1997 entitled Being.

There were also numerous paintings of street scenes in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford by artists such as John Horan, Aiden Bradley, Rosita Manahan and Kevin Sanquest, whose panoramic birds-eye view of Cork city is 305cm (10ft) wide.

Anglo previously donated 18 works worth an estimated 160,000 euros, along with the signage which hung over its Dublin headquarters, to the Irish Museum of Modern Art.